On Saturday, 23rd June, members of the Mad As Cootes Independent Athlone
Town Supporters Club were approached by an Athlone Town FC official before
kick off at Station Rd., Newbridge.
Here, speaking on behalf of the Club, they requested that if supporters were
going to be critical of the team, management or performances, they weren't
wanted by Athlone Town FC in any way or form.
They requested that Mad As Cootes stop running buses to away games,
unless we could guarantee that individual supporters traveling with us would
refrain from being critical of players and performances.
Although we are a Supporters Club, we in no way censor or suppress the
opinions of the individual supporter about all things Athlone Town. Therefore,
in the interest of supporting the Club we love, we decided to respect the
Clubs wishes and so we will not be organising any more Supporters Club buses
to away games.
The official also requested that we, the Committee of Mad As Cootes, begin a
campaign of ejecting supporters from Athlone Town Stadium if foul language
and/or criticism is directed towards players.
When we explained that the stewarding our home stadium was the job of the
official match day stewards, and as an Independent Supporters Club we
would not physically take part in an activity to remove people from the
ground, the response was for us to tell the ATFC Committee that we would
act as stewards and ask for bibs to look official!
At a committee meeting of the Mad As Cootes on Wednesday 27th June, it
was proposed that due to the seeming lack of appreciation the Club have for
the Supporters Club's efforts, along with the popular trend of firmly putting
blame on The Cootes for every incident that occurs in terraces and stands
home and away, it was in the best interest of the Supporters Club to suspend
all Club activities with immediate effect.
This resulted in unanimous agreement and the resignation of the current
committee.
It was also disappointing to leard that a certain section of the Athlone Town
support also put blame on the Supporters Club for making a hostile
atmosphere at games which they felt was not present in the pre-Cootes era.
From the 1970's through to the 1990's the atmosphere at Athlone Town
games fluctuated between hostile and euphoric, depending on results, while
in recent seasons there was no atmosphere at games what so ever.
We tried to rectify that but unfortunately our efforts were not wanted.
We, the outgoing Mad As Cootes committee would like to thank all those
supporters who joined the club and took part in our activities, both on and off
the pitch, over the past two and a half seasons in an effort to make a
difference to the dull and dour atmosphere Athlone Town games have had in
recent seasons. While results were not going our way on the pitch, we tried
to bring more people, colour and noise back to the stands, but unfortunately
it has become apparent that the Independent organising of these
activities and an Independent voice are not wanted by the Club or some
other supporters.
As the Supporters Club has suspended just one third of the way through the
season, we will be refunding all 2007 membership fees over the coming weeks.
Although there is no longer an organised group I can assure the Club, players
and fans alike that we, as individual supporters of Athlone Town FC, will
always be as mad as cootes, and forever "Athlone 'Till We Die".
